The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1887-07-07

A DRUNKARD' S THEORY OF DRUNKEN f1SS
Freedom from restraint is a bad thing
for man who drinks to excess. have been
III the Washingtonian home in Chicago for
three months at q time. and came out feel
| ing well, with my head clear and strong
determination not to taste liquor again.
| One curious thing which | cannot explain
to my own satisfaction IS, that while in
| the Home, after the first week. | seemed
to have no desire for intoxicaEts at all, but
the very next morning after | was at lib
erty, though had not been near q saloon,
nor been in any way brought in contact
| with liquor, yet the old feeling of ''gone
ness in the stomach and an intense desire
for something to "brace up77 on returned
| with almost irresistible force. | wish |
could account for it, for in every other re-
| spect / felt just as well as when confined
in the institution. | have tried drinking
coffee, have taken various specifics, and
kept tobacco. gum and different kinds Of
herbs and roots in my mouth but all i'll
vain | cannot conquer the intense desire
for liquor which has blasted my life and
made my once happy home scene Of
wretchedness and misery. My only safety
seems to be in being locked up. When |
once taste VIII iskey or beer then nothing
can keep me from getting drunk, ard
sooner than go without q drink j would
part with the clothes on my back. The
feeling of weakness Of which / speak is
|
morning about 10 o'clock, aud if | am al
work on the street, it seems rs though /
would faint il [ did not get the stimuant
But this feeling does not exist when !
know that / cannot get out to obtain it.
believe the desire is more a mental than a
physical disease.
The above, from a sad experience,
touches point of greatest Importance.
The mental habit of drinking. the yearn-
ing for something that one has had, is one
of the most difficult elements in the prob
| lem of reformation. The statement to-
ward the close But this feeling does not
exist when l know that I cannot get out
to obtain it," has a practical bearing on
prohibition. II prohibition be made so
certain as to make it practically Impossible
to get the liquor, the same effect, to some
extent, is seen, A drunkard once said
when ! made up my mind that the Pro-
hlbitory law was going to be enforced in
this city my desire for alcohol seemed to
pass away, but in two Or three months.
| when the authorities relaxed their vigil
lance, I found it returning again almost
irrisistibly. ST. Louis Globe Democrat.
10 those who are fighting the great bat
4 tie Of temperance as individuals. OF in or
| CARNATIONS formed for this end, it is en-
4 couraging to see that the Church Of Christ
is beginning to arouse to the Importance
i of making no uncertain sound. Follow
4 ing the lead Of the great Methodist Church.
4 the last General Assembly of the United
Iresbyterians passed the following resou-
tions on the temperance question
/. That all measures Of licenee or tax
practice.
i 2. That we regard this traffic as al evil
I which can never be removed without po-
litical action, and that we request its en-
tire prohibition as the most pressing polit-
zeal question of the times, and that it
therefore becomes our duty as Christian
citizens, in the careful and prayerful use
Of the ballot, to meet this question di
rectly.
8. That, thanking God for the growth
Of public sentiment in favor of the prohI-
hilton of this traffic, we are resolved that
we will still hold our place in the font of
the battle For God and home and native
land"
The United PIesbyterians have proved
their faith by their works in that for three
years they have devoted one day of the
week Of prayer to temperance.
.